None.
This invention pertains generally to model vehicles intended for juvenile and adult personal amusement or entertainment, and particularly concerns a battery-powered, model automobile that is articulated and that can be easily manually controlled to simulate different low-rider automobile operating configurations.
Numerous different model vehicles having hand-held, manually operable controls that control model vehicle speed, model forward/reverse direction, and model steering have been made available in the marketplace in different configurations, including different xe2x80x9clow-riderxe2x80x9d wheels retracted configurations. Some such available model vehicles have included construction features which, when operated manually, enable the model vehicle to be placed in a limited number of xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d (wheel actuated/extended) operating configurations such as front-hop, back-hop, see-saw configurations and the like. Because prior model vehicles typically use a single motor to actuate the wheels on each side of the car, only one wheel or both wheels together on each side of the car can be actuated at any one time. Simultaneous, independent actuation of all 4 wheels is not possible.
Accordingly it is a principal purpose and object of the present invention to provide a battery-powered model vehicle that normally has a low-rider operating configuration, and that may be manually controlled to temporarily place and to operate independently and simultaneously each wheel of the model vehicle to achieve various xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d (wheel actuated/extended) operating configurations, including front-hop, back-hop, see-saw, slammed, 3 wheel extended and all wheel extended configurations. Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a battery-powered model vehicle with construction features that enable the vehicle to be promptly restored to its low-rider operating configuration following deployment in a xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d configuration, and further to provide construction features which enable the model vehicle to be fixed or xe2x80x9cposedxe2x80x9d in any one of its different xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d configurations.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent during consideration of the descriptions, drawings, and claims which follow.
A model automobile having a normal low-rider configuration is provided with independently repositionable roadway wheels that may be deployed separately and in various temporary roadway wheel xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d position combinations, using a manually-switched, battery-powered control.
From a construction standpoint, the invention includes a molded model vehicle chassis, spring biased rocker arms pivotally carried by the model vehicle chassis, a model roadway wheel rotatably carried by each biased and pivoted rocker arm, a chassis-carried, independently-operated, battery-powered drive train for each such rocker arm, and a hand-held control that may be manually operated to independently position each model roadway wheel in a temporary xe2x80x9chopxe2x80x9d position as distinguished from a normal low-rider position.